Tractor



E. E. CHANDLER.

TRACTOR,

APPLICATION FILED AUG-8,1917. 1 07,481. Patented June 24, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2. 422

15 I 1 3/? l l v fluzfimzz/ WITNESSES 'INVENTQR UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

ELBER'I. E. UEANDLER, 0F EAGLE ROCK, CALIFOlRNIA.

, moron.

Specification of Iietters Patent.

Patented June 24, 1919.

Application filed August 8, 1917. Serial No. 185,053.

into their interior, perpendicularly through their faces; to prevent theentrance of dirt into their interior at their sides; to obtain a shortturning radius; to guide by driving and by hand; and to provide a simpledirect, reverse and change gear system.

I attain these objects by a traction wheel system, a ventilating andcooling system, a

frame system, composed of a wheel frame and a main frame, a controlsystem, and a transmission system.

These systems are illustrated in the accompanying drawings in whichFigure 1 is a left side view, Fig. 2 is a top view, Fig. 3 is a crosssection view of Figs. 1 and 2 along the line 1-1, and Fig. 4 is a crosssection view of the left transmission system.

Similar figures refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The traction wheel system.

2 and 2 are left and right driving wheels respectively. They are coaxialwith each faces are not continuous, but are gridform. There grid wheelscarry the main gears 3 and 3', the toes 4 and 4', which help form thegrids5 and 5' and are preferably of one steel casting. 6 is also ahollow wheel, preferably made of boiler plate. Its face is continuou's,covering the inter-grid spac'esand other and are hubless andspokeless.Their their grids wilt-act as scrapers on the shell wheel, dlsengagingany dirt that may tend to accumulate upon it and between their toes andgrids.

The ventilating and cooling system.

Thein fernal combustion engine 7 is located inside the hollow tractionwheel system, so that its crank shaft 8 is parallel to the common axisof these wheels. The left and right ends of the shaft drive the left andright grid wheels independently through left and right transmissionsystems near their ground contact, thus avoiding strains on themechanism. 9 is a belt wheel for stationary use.

This interior power plant, the two quartercircular radiators 10 and 10,the bonnets 14 and 14 and the transverse members 21 and 22 of the Wheelframe, all serve to divide the cylindrical interior of the driving wheelsystem more or less segmentally into upper and lower air conduits.

The vanes 13 of the left fly Wheel and the corresponding vanes of theright fly wheel are slanted oppositely, so that the revolution of theengine circulates air inwardly and oppositely through the upper conduit,downwardly through the radiators, outwardly and oppositely through theannular space 11 formed between the radiators, the transverse wheelframe members, the

, lower portion of the shell wheel and the engine bed 12, thence pastthe varies and forces it outwardly and downwardly past the transmissionboxes 15 and 15', The frame plates 16 and 16' prevent the air fromescaping directly outwardly and cause it to be dischargedat or near theground at the openings 17 and 17'. p

The general effect of this ventilating and cooling system is to drawclean air into the hollow driving wheels at some distance above theground and after cooling the en'- gine to discharge it at or near theground and thus prevent the entrance of dirt to the interior at thispoint. It is evident that the same result may be accomplished by 10-eating the radiators and fans elsewhere and I do not limit myself tothis particular ariangement, but desire to cover as broadly as possiblethe general feature of circulating air inwardly at theluppe r part 'ofhollow g wheels and outwardly at their lower 20. The members 20, '21 and22 help to the wheel frame. The wheel frame is rota-- carry the powerlent radiators and transmission boxes. T e also carry bymeans ofbrackets the roller rings wheels 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and othersimilar wheels not shown. These wheels are in pairs, coaxial with eachother and support respectively the shell and grid wheels. 29 is also atransverse member of the wheel frame and itsupports the front end of thecontrol system. 30 is a fuel tank carried by bands attached to themembers 18 and 29. 31 is a track supporting the rear portion of thecontrol system.

32 is a horizontal member of the main frame encircling the circularmember 18 of table within the main frame to any desired degree. 33 is atrailer wheel, 34 a fender, 35 a hitch rack for the drawn implement and36 a seat rotatable horizontally to allow the operator to adjust theimplement.

The control system.

37 is a steerin wheel, connected by the tube shaft 38 to t e left cam39, which may depress the track 40, the connections 41 and 42 and thebell crank lever 43, so as to move its lower arm outwardly. The handlever 44, engageable with the steering wheel through the ratchet 45isattached by the inner steering shaft 46 to the right cam 47, which mayin like manner 0 erate the ri ht bell crank lever arm outwardly.

he front ends of these shafts are carried by the clevis 48, rotatablevertically on the pin 49 of the lower clevis 50, which is horizontallyrotatable in the wheel frame member 29. The outer steerin shaft carriesthe cam 51, between the stop locks 52 and 52, which are adjustable onthe track 31. The steering wheel may also be provided with the usualchange gear, throttle and spark levers, operating their respective partsin a similar manner to the steerin gear, but these are omitted for thesake o simplicity.

- The transmission system.-

hub plate wheel 56 and to the fly 5 'car'ry'the outer disks of theclutch 57. The inner disks are slidable but not rotatable,

18 is a circular gears 3.

attached to the engine shaft 8. The sprin bolts 54 and 55, attache'd'tothe groove on the sleeve 58, which is integral with the bevel gearwheel' 59. Slidable but not rotatable on this are the change ears 60 1and 61, which are attached to eac other.

The bevel gear 59 meshes with a air of bevel gears on a per endicularaxis 0 which 62 is the only one s own. These mesh with the bevel gear63, integral with another sleeve 64'on which is slldable but notrotatable the inner disks -of the clutch 65. The outer disks of thisoutside clutch are slidable but not rotatable with the cup wheel 66,which is keyed to the engine shaft. 67 is a shaft operated by the lowerarm of the bell crank lever 43 and is slidable'by it in the ear box 15.It carries the yokes 68 and 69, W ich' operate the two clutches. Thegears 70, 71 and 72 are into 73, connecting t e gears 60 and 61 with theOperation.

hand, gu ding by driving and changing gears are accomplished as follows,assummg the machinein Figs. 1 and 2 to be progressing when moving to theleft and in ig. 3, when enterin the plane of the paper. efore starting te engine, all clutches must be disengaged. This is accomplished bylocking the steering wheel 37 and thehand lever 44 to each other bymeans of the ratchet segment 45, so that the spring bolts 54 and 55 willnot hold the inside clutches in engagement. The steering wheel and handlever are then unlocked and the clutches allowed. to come intoengagement and the machine goes forward.

It is stopped by again lockin or holding the steering devices in aneutra position.

It is reversed by operating the steering devices still farther in thedirection used in stopping and until the outside clutches come intoengagement. The cup 66 then rotates Steering by driving is accomplishedin.

two ways. If, it is desired to turn the machlne only slightly, thesteering wheel, havmg the steering lever locked to it in a suit- ,ableposition is rotated in the direction to which it is desired the tractorto turn. This al with the counter shaft disengages the inside clutch 011that side, leaving the inside clutch on the other side in duty. Theoutside traction wheel is still driven and the inside one is not, sothat the machine turns to the side of the latter. The steering shaftsmay be left in between the stop blocks in this maneuver and the positionof these brings the rotation of the steering system to a halt by meansof the cam 51. When the turning movement has progressed far enough thesteering s stem is rotated in the opposite direction ti 1 the insidetraction wheel is again engaged.

If it is desired to turn the tractor still more sharply the steeringshafts are lifted from between the stop blocks and the steering systemrotated still farther in the direction to which it is desired to turnand until the inside clutch on that side is not only disengaged, but theoutside one brought into operation. rotation of the traction wheel onthat side as in backing. One wheel will be moving one way and the otherthe other and the wheel frame will turn in the main frame without thetractor progressing in the least. The tractor may thus turn through anangle of ninety degrees or greater.

Gear changing is accomplished by sliding the gears 60 and 61 andlikeones on the right side of the tractor outward, until 60 engages 70. Thiswill give a faster speed to the tractor. The mechanism for doing this isomitted for the sake of simplicity.

Having thus described my invention, under the headings :The tractionwheel system, The ventilating and cooling system, The frame system, Thecontrol system and The transmission system, I desire to cover as Thiswill reverse the direction of.

broadly as possible certain combinations in them and of them.

I claim 1. The combination in a tractor, of a gridform-faced drivingwheel and a concentrically inclosed shell wheel, covering the intergridspaces.

2. The combination in a tractor, of right and left, hollow,grid-form-faced driving wheels; a shell wheel, covering their intergridspaces; and a power plant, inside of these wheels.

3. The combination in a tractor, of hollow driving wheels; a powerplant, inside of them, which with other means, divides their cylindricalinterior more or less segmentally into upper and lower air conduits; andmeans for circulating air inwardly through the upper conduits andoutwardly through the lower ones.

4. The combination in a tractor, of right and left hollow drivingwheels; a power plant inside of them; a Wheel frame encircling them andsupporting the power plant; a main frace encircling the wheel framehorizontally; and means for operating the driving wheels separately oroppositely and thus rotating the wheel frame in the main frame.

5. The combination is a tractor, of a power plant; hollow drivingwheels, encircling the power plant; a wheel frame, incloslng the drivingwheels; a main frame inclosing the wheel frame; means for rotating thewheel frame within the main frame, by the independent operation of thedriving wheels; and means for rotating the wheel frame in the main frameby hand.

ELBERT E. CHANDLER.

